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It was not the bad officiating that downed the Ohio Bobcats but it sure didn't help.
Facing third-and-7 at their own 27 early in the third quarter, Tyler Tettleton was run down but Buffalo linebackers Khalil Mack and Jarrett Franklin. Unable to easily escape containment Tettleton backpedaled to his own 4 before finally getting out of the box to throw the ball away, but there were two problems.
The firs was that the Ohio quarterback was unable to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage. That meant that even though he was outside of the Box the pass was intentional grounding. The second problem was that the Official had wrongly said he threw the ball from end zone which meant it was a safety.
By rule the spot of a foul is non reviewable. Frank Solich described the call that resulted in a safety against the Bobcats as "questionable." Tom McCabe, the referee who made the call admitted fault after the game.
As much press as that call will get it was a bit part of a game where Buffalo ran Branden Oliver down the throat of the Ohio Bobcats. Oliver carried the ball 34 Times for 249 yards and two touchdowns. When Ohio tried to compensate for Oliver's dominating performance Sophomore Quarterback Joe Licata went over the top to Alex Neutz who caught four balls for 79 yards and two second half scores.
The Bulls (7-2, 5-0) defense smothered Ohio the entire game. The Bobcat's offense managed only 233 yards averaging just 4.3 per pass and 2.0 per run. Jarre Franklin who is seeing time to help cover for the injured Adam Redden had eight tackles and one and a half sacks to lead the Bulls. But Khalil Macks three Quarterback hits rattled Tettelton who was clearly off his game in the second half.
The Bulls take on Toledo next week in the Glass Bowl while Ohio (6-3, 3-2) Will try to climb back into the MAC East Divisional race against Bowling Green.